i was asked by a family to support them getting access to iCloud files from their dead son. He died last week and used a new iPad for his daily work. The surviving dependants have a great interest in all the files and photos he might have synced to iCloud.

They have a relativly new powered-off iPad, a powered-off iPhone 7, his email adress and that`s it. Apple ID and password are unknown. Does anyone know, perhaps from his own experience with Apple, how to get access to these files?

Thanks for the hints, Jaclaz.
I already talked to the Apple Support. They told me, it is "impossible".

In the mentioned case in the first link, the widow needed a warrant from court to get access to the files...so these files exist, whatever Apple tells me on the phone. Does the family really need a lawyer and a court to get access?

Thanks for the hints, Jaclaz.
I already talked to the Apple Support. They told me, it is "impossible".

In the mentioned case in the first link, the widow needed a warrant from court to get access to the files...so these files exist, whatever Apple tells me on the phone. Does the family really need a lawyer and a court to get access?

regards, Robin

That is the issue, reportedly (and ONLY after CBC made a public case of this) Apple seemingly found a way to provide access to the account without the court order:

In a "normal" world *any* normally managed company with a minimal (not even decent, minimal is enough) level of care for their customers would have found a way to make this same (unfortunately I believe common enough nowadays) issue easily solvable through a given, simple, public procedure.

Evidently Apple doesn't actually care about their customers (not that so many of the competition does), and so (according to the given article) it seems like a few states are making appropriate Laws.

Of course, in a "normal" world such Laws would be simple and effective, in "this" world, the result is often similar to the AZ Law mentioned here:

In the mentioned case in the first link, the widow needed a warrant from court to get access to the files...so these files exist, whatever Apple tells me on the phone. Does the family really need a lawyer and a court to get access?

They need a certificate of heirship that is issued by the probate court (Erbschein).